Senator Scott Wiener. (Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
Sen. Wiener Wants to Ditch State Environmental Review for San Francisco Building Projects
‘This Senator Wiener guy needs to know that there is more to California than San Francisco’
By Evan Symon, February 17, 2024 8:34 am
A bill to exempt all San Francisco building projects within a certain area of the city from the California Environmental Quality Act for ten years was introduced in the Senate on Friday. CEQA is a law that requires significant environmental study, review, and approval before major building projects are approved.
Senate Bill 1227, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would specifically exempt from the requirements of CEQA development projects meeting certain requirements occurring within most areas in the City and County of San Francisco until January 2035. The bill would require the prime contractor and subcontractors on the development project to provide an affidavit under the penalty of perjury regarding the use of skilled and trained workforce on the development project.
In addition, SB 1227 would provide, for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2025, that property is within that welfare exemption and is entitled to a partial exemption equal to the percentage of the value of the property that is equal to the percentage that the number of units serving moderate-income households represents of the total number of residential units, if the property is used exclusively for rental housing and related facilities, is owned and operated by specified entities, and certain conditions are met.
SB 1227 also identified the boundaries of the “Downtown revitalization zone” in San Francisco to include Downtown, the North Financial District, Union Square, Transbay and Moscone Center areas, South of Market, Mid-Market and Civic Center, and the Tenderloin all being exempt. However, many areas and buildings, including waterfront districts and hotels, would not fall under the exemptions, because of the difficulties with city laws surrounding them.
Finally, the law would not allow a building that has housed tenants in the past 10 years to be demolished, a registered historic landmark to be demolished, or for a project to occupy an unmitigated hazardous waste site.
For the last several years, the number of vacant office buildings in San Francisco has skyrocketed, with many businesses leaving the city because of homeless, crime and drug abuse keeping people away. Downtown recovery projects attempted by the city and county have largely failed, with cleanup effort, such as those made during the APEC summit in November, only lasting around a week before things returned to normal.
Wanting more sweeping change from the state level, needing a way to more easily convert vacant office buildings, and wanting to get around CEQA red tape, Wiener introduced SB 1227 on Friday.
“Downtown San Francisco matters to our city’s future, and it’s struggling — to bring people back, we need to make big changes and have open minds,” said Senator Wiener in a statement. “That starts with remodeling, converting, or even replacing buildings that may have become outdated and that simply aren’t going to succeed going forward. By providing a temporary, targeted exemption from CEQA, SB 1227 will save downtown projects years of review and litigation while leaving local control firmly intact. To bring middle-class housing downtown, SB 1227 also expands an existing property tax exemption to include housing affordable to more middle class families.”
I’m introducing new legislation (SB 1227) to allow expedited approval for physical changes in downtown San Francisco.
Downtown is struggling. We need to rethink its future.
Other struggling downtowns have had big transformations & thrived.
Let’s be open to new approaches in SF pic.twitter.com/r27M9dV1Sg
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) February 16, 2024
San Francisco lawmakers and organizations backed the bill on Friday, with Mayor London Breed saying, “San Francisco thrives when Downtown thrives, but the reality is that we need to evolve beyond the traditional 9 to 5 neighborhood it has been for decades. At the local level, we’ve improved public safety, streamlined rules for conversions and small businesses, delivered tax incentives, and focused on strengthening the arts, entertainment and public spaces. But there is much more work to do. This important and impactful proposal authored by Senator Wiener will build on this work to encourage new investments in housing, educational institutions, and a wide range of other developments downtown.”
However, critics blasted the bill shortly after it was introduced, with many saying that CEQA was important for many projects for safety reasons, that the bill unfairly targeted only San Francisco for exemptions, and that, even if the bill did pass, there are numerous other laws in the way of many projects.
“A lot of cities need help with downtown areas right now, and to just give San Francisco exemptions is, well, a joke,” explained Luis Rodriguez, a building contractor organizer in Southern California, to the Globe on Friday. “Parts of LA and San Diego would really benefit and need this. Oakland would. San Francisco may be in the worst spot, but this Senator Wiener guy needs to know that there is more to California than San Francisco. Either everyone gets them or no one. Everyone is hurting.”
Helen Freelander, a city planner, added, “CEQA is actually important. Some developers don’t like it because it can delay projects, but it looks at all the issues and gives the city time to review everything. Say San Francisco approves a huge new apartment complex. There are underground parking issues, foot traffic issues, green space issues, utility issues, vehicle traffic issues, and so much more that need to be looked in to. If you want changes to CEQA to make it more local oriented, fine, then change that instead. You want CEQA to have a quicker turnaround time. Fine, make changes to the law.”
“A lot of people have blamed CEQA for stopping projects, or delaying them, for recent initiatives to place more housing near transit stations. A lot of lawmakers are upset at CEQA for essentially neutering most projects like that because cities or developers don’t want more of these complexes going up near transit stations. There are ways to encourage it. This bill is not the way to do this. I mean, my God.”
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Democrat imposed planning regulations like CEQA are especially burdensome and stifle development, but it’s not the reason that San Francisco is struggling and dying. Downtowns in Democrat controlled cities like San Francisco have become lawless crime infested hellholes that residents are fleeing because of the idiotic leftist policies that have been imposed by Democrats like creepy Senator Scott Wiener. He looks like he climbed out of a crypt and he’s off the charts weird even by San Francisco standards?
Agree with you TJ.
Seems like Sen Wiener has really lost his marbles now, and that’s saying something. What the heck? This is a mess that would become an even bigger mess, all in the name of delusional thinking and an “I, Me, Mine” perspective. Should such a person, especially one with Wiener’s reputation for AWFUL and HARMFUL legislative proposals, really still be privileged with writing and introducing bills that could become law in California? “…..Remodeling, converting, or even replacing buildings that may have become outdated…” does Sen Wiener actually think THIS is what is central to solving the many problems that continually dog San Francisco? Uh, don’t think so! He might want to look in the mirror to find the root of so many of these problems, though. And what is he actually up to here, by the way? Is he wanting to throw his developer/contractor donor buddies some bones to keep them happy? Who knows? Continually trying get into these wackos’ heads to figure out what motivates their nonsense has become a pointless and tedious exercise.
The developer/contractor donor angle seems plausible? First Democrats allow homelessness and crime to get completely out of control while defunding the police, Democrats then mandate businesses shut down and decree healthy employees stay at home, Democrats then impose an eviction moratorium, office and retail vacancies soar and properties decline in value, the FED raises interest rates and property owners are unable to refinance. Developers can now buy properties at near bargain basement prices and Scott Wiener proposes that developers be allowed to be exempt from CEQA requirements? Never forget that Scott Wiener is a scheming Harvard trained lawyer from the east coast who was installed into office after little political experience and he’s no doubt a member of the club (aka globalist cabal)?
BINGO!
Thanks TJ.
“Residents” are not fleeing SF; but tax payers and revenue generators are.
clever response – i like it. SF is attracting ppl who want free money and druggiess…I’m thinking of leaving CA myself –
TJ ….. I’m stuck on why any developer would want to build anything in San Francisco. Anyone with brains has already moved south towards San Jose.
Maybe it’s developers connected with the CCP who are buying up hard assets such as farmland and other investors who want to get rid of U.S. fiat dollars before they become completely worthless?
Having been involved with several publicly funded construction projects, the CEQA’s reports were full of pages and pages of nonsense boiler plate – worst upfront costs ever imposed on the public tax dollars.
But not the only drain on the public construction tax dollar. Still plenty more full-government employment layers of add ons to come before the first brink and mortar gets laid. Remember this when your local school districts go out for “bond measures”. Ask them for a breakdown of “soft costs” and “hard costs” and hold them to what they promised in the final accounting.
The Democrat principle of “raid the treasury and hire the relatives” is added on to bond measures too. Citizens Bond Oversight Committees? Give me a break. Mind-numbing junk in and junk out, from the very agency you are supposed to be over-seeing.
clever response – i like it. SF is attracting ppl who want free money and druggiess…I’m thinking of leaving CA myself –
I suggest making sidewalks much wider. More room for poop and drug addicts camping out.
This may come as a surprise, but I actually agree with the State Senator from San Francisco. If the Republicans in Sacramento were smart, they should agree and insist on extending this exemption statewide. Again, this is an easy win for the taxpayers of California. If this burdensome set of regulations were set aside it would free up the engine on economic activity. It would also limit the power of the environmental crowd. I see this as a win for San Francisco and the state as a whole. This is a gift that needs to be seized upon.
I am inclined to agree. CA GOP should weaponize the heck out of this as a “rules for thee but not for me”. Also, never stop circulating those creepy Folsom Street Fair photos of Scott. MSM can keep trying to normalize this but actual normies will instinctively get repulsed. Once we breathe life back into the CA GOP, it will force the CA DNC to run someone besides Scott and he can disappear back into the grimey rooms of the Power Exchange or wherever the hell these people go nowadays.
So, California state government’s Czar of Openness, Senator Scott Wiener.
Only time will tell.
Far better, eliminate CEQA, as it no longer has anything to do with preventing pollution. Rather it is all about paying what the government bureaucrats and private consultants (with a revolving door between them and government) want to obtain approval. Other states do not have CEQA, and no evironmental problems ae occurring. By the way, I own an environmental consulting company and we have never gotten dirty doing CEQA projects.
“Other states do not have CEQA”.
This is because CEQA is the CALIFORNIA Environmental Quality Act. “Other states” have their own version of the environmental review process.
I urge you to look closer into the world if you think “no environmental problems”.
I agree with your comment about eliminating CEQA. If the Republicans can “pause” it for 10 years statewide as Senator Wiener is proposing for parts of San Francisco it is effectively over. In my opinion if California is going to see an economic revival eliminating this monster is a key component.
Don’t hurt the fleas…
People either forget or are too disconnected to understand that CEQA (when followed), is the reason there are still shreds of open space on your streets. The trees that have not been cut down, the air that has not been monopolized by construction debris, the part of the sky you can still see out of from your window, the small amount of wildlife that remains (we have degraded all of their habitat) – CEQA is what protects those things (when followed).
There are real people who genuinely care about protecting our environment from further anthropogenic damage who are trying to urge decision-makers to make more balanced choices when approving non-sensitive development projects. By the time everyone realizes how city and state leaders of California have created and run with the false narrative of “housing crisis”, it will be too late for our environment.
State and City officials demolish affordable and rent-control housing on a daily basis to subsequently approve luxury building projects in their place. Los Angeles is riddled with vacancies and has lost thousands of residents over the last few years.
No one seems to ask us residents what is really going on in our neighborhoods and instead, voices from uneducated officials whose personal interests are the only factor behind these nonsensical suggestions such as eliminating CEQA get the front page of the papers.
Get rid of stop signs and red-lights while your at it Weiner – they are also a nuisance.
A long time ago a school mate described public toilets in France. They were 2 metal bars you sat on and the poop was deposited into an open sewer that ran down the street. The only privacy was a small screen that shielded your upper body.
At this point such a travesty would be a step UP for SF. No doubt Wienie boy would love it.